People Power Party lawmaker Choi Su-jin said on the 13th that Google should have borne up to 347.9 billion won in network usage fees last year when calculated based on domestic traffic share and revenue. Choi emphasized the need to pass the "network free-riding prevention act," saying Google is using domestic telecom networks without paying fair compensation.
Choi, a member of the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee, presented results of an in-house analysis based on the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer system (DART), a Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) report, and news coverage. According to the analysis, estimates indicate Google should have paid about 214.7 billion won in network fees based on revenue, or about 347.9 billion won based on traffic share.
The calculation based on revenue reflects cases in which Naver and Kakao paid network fees in 2016 at levels of 1.8% and 2.0% of revenue, respectively. The figure was then applied to last year's 11.302 trillion won in revenue for Google Korea estimated by Gachon University professor Jeon Seong-min.
In addition, according to KISDI's "telecommunications market competition assessment report," the size of the dedicated internet access market in Korea last year was 1.115 trillion won, and applying Google's traffic share (31.2%) indicates it should bear about 347.9 billion won in fees.
Choi said, "Even though paying for network use is a rational market order, Google enjoying annual 'free benefits' worth hundreds of billions of won by leveraging its global market dominance is a textbook case of market failure," adding, "To eliminate reverse discrimination against domestic ICT corporations, the enactment of the 'network free-riding prevention act' and active government mediation are necessary."
Meanwhile, overseas big tech corporations such as Google have argued that imposing additional network usage fees when users already pay internet access charges to telecom companies amounts to double billing and violates the principle of "net neutrality."